A widow says a long-running dispute with her lovesick neighbour ended with him pointing a shotgun at her and telling her to leave the area.

Lyn Fisk, 58, said farmer Andrew Thorne appeared from the woods and told her she would die if she did not move away.

She said her life had been made a misery due to the unwanted attention of Mr Thorne who would not let her live in peace at her dream rural home in Mid Devon.

Fisk is accused of perverting the course of justice by lying to police about the shotgun encounter near Chumleigh. The prosecution say film of the episode shows there was no gun and that she was the one stirring up trouble.

But giving evidence in her defence at Exeter Crown Court she tearfully recalled the moment she claims Mr Thorne threatened her.

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"I didn't know who it was at first then turned around and saw Andrew was standing there on the edge of the woods pointing a shotgun at me. I didn't hear what he said the first time and the words I picked out were 'leave if you don't want to die'."

The incident is alleged to have happened near her home in Ashreigney on September 9 last year.

The jury has already heard a recording of Fisk calling 999 and reporting the threat. Armed officers were sent to the location and arrested Mr Thorne, who was held in custody for 16 hours.

Ashreigney (Google)

The prosecution say CCTV from a neighbouring property shows the encounter could not have happened at the time Fisk said it had.

The defendant says she did lie about the time initially but only because she had been so frightened by having the gun pointed at her that she soiled herself and had to go home and get changed.

"I felt degraded, frightened, humiliated. Lost, I felt lost."

She says the CCTV shows her trying to confront Mr Thorne after the shotgun threat. She says she wanted to get a photo of him with the gun.

The defendant said she moved to the location in 2010. She and her RAF pilot husband had wanted to build their dream home but he had been electrocuted and killed. Initially she said the community had rallied round and helped her feel at home. But relations between her and neighbouring farmer Mr Thorne deteriorated.

He claimed they had an affair and he would send her love letters. Eventually he was warned off by police and had his firearm licence revoked.

Fisk told the jury she had never been romantically involved with the farmer. Mediation had failed and she was angry about him cutting trees and working in a neighbouring wood. Mr Thorne made complaints about her filming him working.

It was agreed in evidence that Mr Thorne had referred to her as a 'f*****g b***h' and she had called him a 'Fat 'f*****t'.

Fisk denies the charge against her and says her house has been up for sale since October last year.

She said: "I just want to be left in peace, To be left alone and for him to know he just can't do these things to me. I feel he has torn my life apart over these last few years. He's making my life a misery."